Ownership

Navneet Choudhury

I’ve learnt a lot from my seniors here at sheild. One of those is Ownership. Ownership is the only reason I am standing here in front of you guys giving this speech. I don’t care about the certificates or the post. Not that I don’t want those but yes that is not my priority. I joined this organization in my 1^st semester. When it was known as STARTUP STREET. We had a huge team and we pulled off the best event of gravitas 15. Today I see only a few faces here who joined with me. Many people had left thinking that there is no future in this organization. And yet here we are conducting the first ever sheild conference. There was a time when even I wanted to leave. It was the time when we didn’t have a proper board or even a proper organization structure. One day at the final team meeting, Ajinkya had angrily asked us “if anyone wants to leave may leave now”. And I shamelessly raised my hand. Ajinkya had never thought that I would raise my hand. After the meeting he came to me, he said I can’t let you leave. I was like ‘why’? He said ‘I know our organization is nothing but a name right now but isn’t it your responsibility to turn things around and carry this organization forward? We met almost everyday after that, talked about how to take this organization to new heights. He actually took inputs from all of us on how to run this organization.

And here I am now, vice president of SHEILD.

The moment you start working according to the values rather than rules. That is when you attain a true ownership culture.

Talk to any of the events team members, I hardly give any inputs during the meetings. Every small change in an event is by the members. I want them to feel that it’s their organization. You are the future of this organization. Every single one of you defines this organization.

Taking ownership is about taking initiative. We take ownership when we believe that taking action is not someone else’s responsibility. You, as an individual, are accountable for the quality and timeliness of an outcome, even when you’re working with others.

When employees take ownership of their work, they treat the business they are working for—and its money—as if it were their own. They will make decisions thoughtfully, responsibly, and with more care. They will also be more driven, motivated, and have more initiative, seeking creative and innovative ways to improve and develop what they are doing, rather than going through the motions and fulfilling the minimum, and worse still, stagnating.